16of54Robert Sanchez, 51, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting a man to death at 5216 Irving Way on Aug. 2, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

17of54Joshua Dominic Bourgeois, 25, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting his girlfriend Tracy Williams, also known as Tracy Single, 22, to death at 11009 Katy Freeway on July 30, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

18of54Renard Leon Spivey, 63, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting his wife Patricia Ann Marshall Spivey, 52, to death at 5000 Briscoe on July 28, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

19of54Adolfo Vasquez, 23, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting Julius Caesar, 34, to death at 13360 Northborough Drive on July 13, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

30of54Adrian Lizcano, 21, was charged with murder for beating to death his newborn daughter, Yeimy Lizcano, on Jan. 30, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

31of54Joshua Ofaron Williams, 34, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting to death Eugene Scott in the 1400 block of E. 36th Street on May 18, 2019.Photo: Harris County Office of Court Management

33of54Jiterion Kegler, 19, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting to death Michael Ubani, 50, at 3300 Montrose on April 29, 2019.Photo: Bellville Police Department

34of54Darrell Ellsworth, 18, and a juvenile, 16, were charged with capital murder for allegedly shooting to death Jeremy Washington, 30, at 12601 South Green Drive on March 14, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

35of54Oscar Ochoa, 27, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting Alfredo Garnica, 39, to death at 9913 Aldine Westfield Road on April 28, 2019.Photo: Houston police

36of54Craig Allen Burleson, 40, was charged with murder for allegedly shooting to death Tommie Williams, 31, at 13900 Main Street on April 21, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

37of54Steven Hicks, 18, Brent Williams, 18, and Lakoreen Parker, 19, were charged with capital murder for allegedly shooting Se Young Lee, 59, to death at 9200 Main Street on April 16, 2019.Photo: Houston Police Department

A teenager has been charged with capital murder in the death of a beloved southwest Houston grandmother who he is accused of stabbing after she was unable to help him fix his truck, according to police.

The broken-down vehicle across from Etta Nugent’s home and the 19-year-old living in it over the weekend had caught the attention of the tight-knit neighbors on tree-lined Neff Street next to the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church soccer field.

Sunday was when Ninfa Palazzolo’s husband first saw him, she said. The suspect, identified by police as Marco Cobos, stood out among the mass of cars parked along the church property for a baptism ceremony.

“My husband saw him sitting in a truck with the car door open, and he saw him again yesterday,” said Palazzolo, who had lived near the Nugents for three decades.

Court records show Cobos was born in Mexico and homeless. The truck he had been sleeping in had been reported stolen, police said.

Cobos sought help from 75-year-old Nugent to fix his vehicle but she was unable to "because of her age," police said. The 6-foot, 230-pound suspect then forced his way into her longtime home and stabbed her to death. Police did not say when Cobos broke into the home.

Another neighbor, Sharon Shanahan, said she last saw Nugent on Sunday.

Nugent had been home alone for most of May as her husband recovered from a medical procedure at a convalescent care facility, Shanahan said. She was supposed to visit her husband on Monday morning but never showed. Calls to her phone went unanswered.

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Her son found her around 1:30 p.m. that afternoon when he went to check on her. The back door was open and her car had been stolen, Shanahan said.

As detectives wrapped up the investigation at the Nugent residence, and while neighbors and members of the media were still gathered outside the home, Cobos tried returning to the scene of the crime in the woman's stolen car, police said.

He was apprehended around 8:30 p.m. at Mary Bates Boulevard and Neff Street, a few doors down from Nugent's home. The suspect stared blankly at police officers from the back window of a police vehicle soon after his arrest.

The teen later confessed to killing Nugent, police said. He was scheduled to appear in court early Wednesday morning.

Nugent was a retired parish secretary at Holy Ghost Catholic Church and attended St. Francis across the street from her home. She is survived by three children and six grandchildren, according to neighbors.